Seven years, two of the highest rated games of all time, and over 100 million units sold worldwide later, Nintendo’s Wii, the console that, for good or for bad, redefined and expanded the concept of gaming, is now coming to an end. Nintendo will be ending production of the console end of 2013, according to their Japanese website.
The message, however, is meant only for Japan, Nintendo insists- in Europe and North America, the company plans on making the console available for now. Given the release of Wii Mini, and Nintendo pushing the console as a lower end, cheaply priced alternatives for families on a budget looking to buy something for their kids, I guess it makes sense, although discontinuing the Wii altogether would help them majorly with the brand identification issues that the Wii U has been suffering from.
The Wii’s legacy will be determined by the future. As it stands now, though, the third highest selling console of all time, which hosted one of the highest software attach ratios ever, the highest selling game of all time, and the highest rated game of all time, is nearing the end of its run. I mean, no matter how you look at it, that’s pretty impressive.